Sebi bans US’ Jane Street for ‘manipulative’ trading

Markets regulator Sebi has barred US-based Jane Street Group from the securities markets and directed the group to disgorge unlawful gains of Rs 4,843 crore for allegedly manipulating stock indices through positions taken in derivatives segment.

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In its interim order, the regulator has debarred JSI Investments, JSI2 Investments Pvt Ltd, Jane Street Singapore Pte Ltd, and Jane Street Asia Trading — entities collectively referred to as the Jane Street Group —from trading until further notice, while continuing its investigation.

Jane Street Group LLC is a global proprietary trading firm in the financial services industry. It employs more than 2,600 people across five offices in the US, Europe and Asia, and conducts trading operations in 45 countries. The Jane Street (JS) Group has come under Sebi’s scrutiny for allegedly manipulating index levels in the stock market to earn illegal profits, primarily through the highly liquid Bank Nifty and Nifty index options segments.

A probe by Sebi revealed that over 21 expiry days between January 2023 and May 2025, the group executed large trades in the underlying cash and futures markets to influence index movements and profit from massive positions in the options market. Two key strategies were identified — one involved buying heavily in Bank Nifty stocks and futures in the morning and selling them aggressively in the afternoon to create a softer close, while the other involved concentrated selling or buying in the last two hours of the expiry day to sway index levels.

These actions helped the group earn illegal profits, even as they incurred smaller losses in cash and futures trades, the regulator said.